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First look at J.H. Williams’ cover for Batwoman #12

On his blog, J.H. Williams III unveils his stunning cover for August’s Batwoman #12, complete with the promise of an appearance by Wonder Woman, and walks us through his process.

“I felt it important for the image to work from a design idea properly, the logo had to become a part of the art directly, to play up the mirror effect as needed,” he writes, “so I embedded it into the final in a way that there is no other version. You’ll note I digitally did a mirror effect for Batwoman rather than draw that in by hand. I felt it best to handle it that way because of the Bloody Mary part is so bold. I think it would’ve been extremely problematic to have tried drawing Batwoman mixed with Blood Mary and then be able to have multiple effects in the final color. This allowed me to keep the style used for Bloody Mary independent from everything else. So the last digital additions, the use of a background setting, and the pop color of the inset stars and star panel against the surreal quality of the idea, helped to make this cover unique from previous Batwoman covers I’ve done. So that’s good, I’m always wanting the covers to do new things.”

All of Williams’ covers are beautiful, but with the one for Batwoman #12, he definitely raises the bar. Check out the full cover below, and visit Williams’ blog to see more of his process.

7 Comments

skott

Utz

It’s brilliant. Remind me again why he’s doing mainstream comics? Sad that this is such a marvelous image, such a character whom he’s really made his own, that he will never receive long-term benefits from. The work is brilliant. The decision to do it on someone else’s property is fraught with disastrous potential for exploitation. It’s brilliant, but not a very smart way for a talent as great as his to make a long-term livng.
Why is he doing this?

Cattleprod

It’s almost as if Williams possesses a will of his own. Who does he think he is, making professional decisions that conflict with your opinions? Here’s a thought: maybe the money is good. Or maybe, shock of shocks, he actually enjoys it.

Do you sincerely believe he’s making a conscious choice to work on a project he hates for terrible pay?

Faust

That is a great cover! And I love that it looks like Wonder Woman is guesting in an issue drawn by Williams (hopefully!). But why is it that I am 95% positive that this next arc will either be EXTREMELY LATE or have fill in artists galore!!

Tom W.

As it stands right now, and has unfortunately for some time, it’s rare to actually make a living outside of license work (i.e. working for Marvel or DC) full time. Sure there’s Hellboy, Chew, Bone, Walking Dead and Invincible to name a few but it’s a huge gamble. Indie creators who are lucky enough to have an indie hit, don’t always make their entire income from the (hit) comic. What’s considered an indie hit, doesn’t quite make the same numbers as a low selling Marvel book. So there’s that playing into what one takes on with comic-ing. You’re having fun but other life factors can weigh in. Creating comics takes a lot of time considering how much one gets paid for it.

Maybe he enjoys it, it does show on the work that he’s been cranking out and that’s okay.

Nicholas Post

Batwoman remain one of the NewDC best selling titles to date so, in my opinion regarding with artist’s contract…
Let me give you an example, with sport stars, they have clauses in their contracts, if they made most touch downs, most base stealing, most struck outs, etc., they get bonus at the end of season.
So, I felt the same way if artist’s comic book is on the level of best selling/sold out/ number of reprint category, he then probably will get a nice piece of bonus, too.
Does it make sense, business-wise?